And off we go to the sixth chapter-NERV Assault .
Now i was not sure if i should put this before or after the Jet alone chapter but decided on putting it before so i could get straight to writing Asuka's debut after it.
…
NERV-Headquarters
400 meters below terminal dogma.
Final Dogma.
"Welcome the Lazarus Lab pilot Ikari"
He kept walking,the only sound the clicking of his own feet on the ground, as he passes the tanks of LCL he doesn't bother to even look at the cloned bodies in them. he continues forward until reaching his destination,the whistling sound of the doors opening reach his ears as he heads even further down. He continues his path down the stairs until he eventually reaches yet another locked door,a swipe of his key card soon opens it.
He walks into the empty control room,the figure stands merely a few meters in front him,the thin pane of glass the only thing between the boy and the creature before him. Its eyes focus on him,it's likely that if it had arms or legs it would attack him. It is the boy's first time looking at it with his own 2 eyes,even without its arms or leg it stands taller than any evangelion,its armor covering only its chest and even then its core was still exposed. It attempts to move against its restraints,the metal bolting its mouth shut creaking under the pressure until the bolts fly off revealing its full, teethed mouth as It growls at him,he does not move,instead he continues staring it down. The beast does the same,they both knew it was not its day yet,but the boy had come either way.
"One day you will understand dreize."This time its eyes Close slightly as it roars,shaking the room slightly with its sheer fury. It moves its head wildly against the restraints in a feeble attempt to break puts his hand on the pane of glass. one day...but not yet,for first the children of god must fall.
...
Shinji was late for class by about 5ish minutes as a consequence of having to come all the way from Final Dogma to his school he still disagreed with his father's point that they needed extra pilots,both units 3 and 4 were months from completion not to say the pilots themselves were completely in-experienced when it came to piloting or even basic military doctrine,save for Kensuke perhaps who was a total military nerd.
"I apologize for my tardiness." And while he does receive a glare from Horaki the teacher himself seemed far too busy talking about pre-impact japan to care about his late arrival.typical of the old fool.
As he sat down he messaged both Toji and Kensuke telling them to meet him at the school's running track. the rest of the lesson went on as usual with the teacher spouting out bullshit about second impact that didn't even come close to accurate.
Later.
"Hey,Shin-man what's up?" Toji was curious as to why the boy had called them here,it was not usual for Shinji to do anything but head straight home after class,either that or head to NERV-HQ.
"Say,if I were to say you had been chosen by NERV as evangelion pilots how would you react?"Genius way to make the subject come up normally,retard.
"Your kidding me!"
"No way!us... as pilots,of course we'd accept!" Kensuke said with the widest grin on his looked at them for a few moments with a heavy look on his face before turning his face to the ground and laughing.
"There's really no point with you two is there?" He said as he looked at them with a smile on his face,he'd expected them to at least ask if he was pulling a prank or why they had been chosen out of everyone.I suppose if they are this happy i'll just have to make sure they are ready to face the enemy when it comes. "Very well..." Shinji clenched his fist and punched toji in the jaw,the boy fell to the ground with a thud before looking at Shinji with a confused expression on his face.
"Piloting lesson number the Run 30 laps" There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice as he ordered them to do so,yet they desperately wished he was had just come back from PE class and were already sweaty and as Shinji's Facial expression didn't even change my a single millimeter and his gaze locked unto them they groaned and began running.
"Piloting lesson number 2,Piloting isn't fun,expect to spend the next months in absolute exhaustion." They continued running as sweat ran down their face,Shinji barked orders and made snarky comments all while they did so.
…
"Keep moving" Shinji ordered as they ran their 50 lap,their muscles were aching,Toji was panting while Kensuke looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. The young and rather frail looking young man had absolutely changed personality once he started training them,giving them not a moment of rest as he made them run lap after lap,by now the sky was starting to darken and the school would have been longed closed if not for Section 2's interference.
"That's enough."Both boys cried in relief as they collapsed on the ground in front of Shinji,he looked at looked miserable, a side effect of his training but they would have to deal with if they wanted to live.
"Now,get up and punch me with all your strength, I promise I wont move."Shinji said as he helped Toji up,the boy for his part simply looked at Shinji,he wasn't sure if Shinji was serious or if he was gonna give yet another piloting lesson.
"Ya serious man?"Toji asked,he didn't really feel like punching his friend for no reason grinned before he spoke.
"I swear on my honor I wont do anything crazy,just punch me as hard you can in the jaw,we'll be even then,right?" Toji clenched his fist and swung it at Shinji,who caught it,spun his arm around and pinned Toji to the ground in less than 3 seconds
"Piloting lesson number 3,Honor means shit in this world,its do or die."He let go of toji who dusted himself off after a few moments and then suddenly spun around with a punch that Shinji barely managed to block,mostly due to the surprise.
"Your getting better at this"Shinji says as a smile grows on his then punches Toji in the gut before spinning around to kick Toji's lower back. "But you've got a long way to go" he helped Toji up once more and they began fighting once again,this time it took Shinji 3 hits to bring toji down. They continued until Toji could block at very least a single one of Shinji's attacks,Kensuke did even worst,being less physically fit then either of his 2 other friends.
Shinji and the 2 would stay there until 3 AM,when both managed to at least hit Shinji without being immediately thrown down.
"Good job,get some rest,you'll need it,I'll be coming by your houses tomorrow morning to pick you up and take you to NERV,don't worry I've already told both Horaki and the teachers."The 2 then asked him why he had told them so if he had not known their answer as to if they would pilot or not,Shinji simply replied with 'just had a hunch you'd say yes.'
…
Shinji Knocked on Toji's door,his father came out a few moments later with a mean-looking scowl on his face,he felt like he had seen the man before at NERV,then again that wasn't unlikely,most people in class 2-A had relatives that either currently worked or had worked with NERV.A deliberate decision to make potential pilots more easily accessible.
"Your the one who made my son become a pilot for those things aren't you?" The man didn't even try to conceal his hatred,then again loosing one's wife to an Evangelion would make one understandably weary of them.
"Yes." Shinji's reply was short and to the point,he had no need to prove himself to this man,he could not choose Toji's fate if he wanted to keep his job and that was something they both knew quite well.
"He is waiting in his room..." Before the man turned around however Shinji handed him a few files,he then walked past the wide-eyed man and walked knocked on the door to what he assumed at least was Toji's room.
"Come in pops...Oh!its you." He seemed happy that it had not been his father,the man had probably been just as pissed at Toji for accepting Shinji's offer as he had been at Shinji for making it.
"Your old man didn't exactly like the news I'm guessing?" Toji simply nodded,Shinji understood the man,he was after all also worried about his friend's safety but in the end he knew it would be better if it had been him making that offer and training them than some random NERV mook.
"Don't worry 'bout it" Toji said with a grin as he put his arm around Shinji's neck,making the smaller boy falter a bit with his friend's weight. "Ya got kensuke already?" Shinji shook his head.
"I had Ayanami pick him up,she didn't complain but I'm pretty sure she tried to murder me with her eyes." Rei disliked social interaction which of course meant Shinji had to force her to be at the very least polite if nothing else. In this case he would have her pick Kensuke up at his house so he wouldn't be late to reach NERV. As to why he'd chosen to pick Toji up instead of kensuke it was due to the simple fact he lived closer to Toji,and no at all because Kensuke would have spent their entire voyage to NERV asking him about the Evangelions and his unit,not at all.
The car was about to reach the elevator that would lead them to the Geo-front proper,Shinji for his part was listening to his SDAT,something which had become increasingly rare for him to do because of his time constraints,said constraints would only get worse with the added job of training the 2 newest pilots in everything from proper weapon usage to how Evangelions pilot to even how to deal with their new co-workers at in all the next few months were about to be pretty exhausting for Shinji on a mental and physical level.
"Wow!its huge down here man,its gotta be bigger than even the entire city!"Toji exclaimed as they left the tunnel and entered the Geo-front proper,he simply smiled,he had a similar reaction to his first time in the Geo-front.
"Hey Shin-man,whats that weird goo?" Shinji gave Toji a confused look before looking in the same direction he be told there was indeed a pool of white goo dripping from one of the open holes in the Geo-fronts ceiling(Curtsy of Ramiel),Shinji watched in awe and shock as it reformed itself into a roughly humanoid shape.
"SHIT!"He quickly grabbed his phone as Toji looked at him with a worried expression in his face.
He tried to call the NERV emergency line to no avail,it seemed whatever the angel had done cut off communications Shinji sighed as he hoped they would make it into the headquarters in for his part merely shrunk in his seat and thought that perhaps being a pilot was actually a terrible idea.
…
Shinji's feet pounded the concrete floor of the base as he rushed to the cages,alarms blared and people ran all about,the next attack wasn't supposed to come so soon! His feet were starting to hurt as he continued his rush towards the evangelion cages, if he was too slow all of humanity could be doomed,he hear the building shake,an evangelion deployment for sure,that meant Rei was out there, sped up his pace.
A few seconds of running later and he reaches the Eva cages,his eyes widen as he looks at the empty cage that was supposed to hold unit-01. They must have sent Rei out in it...either that or Kensuke,and seeing as the boy had 7% probability of actually Synching with it he felt like that was unlikely.
He looked to the Eva cage to his left,if Rei had taken unit 1 that meant unit 0 was still available for piloting. which meant he could still help.
He turned to the other cage,and toward it could die,the unit could reject him and go berserk had all the reasons to do so,but then again it had accepted Rei II ,at least it would accept him as well.
He looked at the recently repaired unit,save for a color change and the addition of Shoulder pylons the unit had not changed much since its battle with Ramiel a mere 4 weeks prior,he manually activated the Eva,he could use the communications system to have the Eva launched when he was inside,if they refused to do so he could simply rip his way to the Geo-front's surface.
He quickly went through the steps of manual activation and awaited to see if the unit would go sighed in relief when instead he could feel the unit activate,and while it did not give off the same warm feeling his own unit did,its cold indifference made him feel oddly at didn't care as much as unit 1,all it cared for was its eventual end,until then it would serve NERV if it had that assured him it would at least not go berserk mid battle.
"Shinji?Thank god your here!" Shinji was confused,he expected her to at least ask why he had chosen to get into unit-00 without orders to do so,or to try and convince him not to go out on a unit he could barely meant 1 of 2 things,
1)Unit-01getting absolutely destroyed up there.
2)They expected this out of him.
Both weren't exactly great but he couldn't complain that if made his life easier.
"What is my ratio looking like?" Shinji felt the unit move as it was sent to the launch catapults.
"23%" Shinji cringed as he heard the number,he expected a low score on a unit so foreign to him,but still 23 was just sad when compared to his low seventies to high sixties in unit-01.
"Not great but I'll make do"He said as the unit finally locked itself into place in the launch bay.
"That's the spirit,EVA LAUNCH!" Shinji made sure he didn't puke out his breakfast's contents into the LCL,that would not be beneficial for his piloting ability,since he wasn't going to the surface the painful voyage was a few seconds shorter. Which was somehow worse.
As his temporary unit came to a stop and the launch restraints released he saw the angel and unit-01 in the distance locked In battle,unit-01 was armed with nothing but a rifle that seemed to have no effect on the angel,its shoots simply being absorbed by its body and more than likely destroyed.
"We're sending you unit-00's sniper rifle hang on a second."Soon there was indeed a small ping as the weapon was sent up through a nearby weapon's cache.
Unit-00 picked it up and Shinji looked down its scope,the Eva following his commands.
Aimed,ready,shoot.
A tank sized dart leaves the weapon at mach 7.
Hit,no pulls the trigger once again,this time aimed at its arms,miss.11 rounds left.
The enemy extends its arms outward towards unit-01 stretching unnaturally in an attempt to grab its enemy,the unit jumps back.
Shinji steadies his breathing and takes another shoot,this time aimed at its dart hits it's AT Field.10 rounds turns towards him,unit-01's rifle fire subsides as it runs out of retreats into a weapon's cache to grab angel approaches him ever so slowly,he pulls the trigger,another dart impacts its AT field,Another shoot,same result,what was that they said about insanity?Shinji thinks before dodging the enemies' now outstretched arm while firing his sniper rifle at it blindly,it misses by a long shoot hitting the Geo-front's ceiling above.
Unit-01 Continues firing its Pallet gun at the target to no effect,Shinji dodges as the enemy grows another pair of limbs and shoots them outwards toward him,this time with much greater hit his leg as the unit attempts to dodge once unit's armor corrodes in the point of impact and Shinji hisses in pain,he had however managed not to get caught by its arm.
Unit-01 rushes at the angel with its progressive Knife in hand,the angel extends its one free arm,pinning Rei and unit-01 to the wall as it does so,it leaves part of its mass behind,locking unit-01 in place at the Geo-front's armor underneath the odd acid goo melts into its armor plating as Unit-01 tries to struggle free.
Unit-00 ditches it rifle and runs in the opposite direction.I have plan.
"Send me the glaive up now!"The crew ask among themselves if what they had heard is right before Misato speaks up about what everyone else was thinking.
"Shinji,the Sonic Glaive is still in its testing phase,it's still exploding upon initial activation."Shinji Smirks. "I know,that's what I'm counting on."The lack of any other plans by the NERV crew left them no choice but to do what Shinji had commanded Unit-00 stops for a few seconds to grab the glaive at a weapon's cache before taking off in a sprint again,angel hot on it's tail.
The angel believed him to be running away and that was exactly what Shinji wanted it to believe,he continued running until he reached the geo-front's wall there he jumped and using the wall as a platform he quickly turns around and activates the spear while ramming it into the angel's throat region,it attempts to pry it off only for the part it grabs onto to melt away,it gives off a low shriek before it's faceless head explodes with the glaive,the core at it's head being taken down with it.
…
Toji waited outside Ayanami's hospital room ,Shinji sitting beside him as they waited for news on the girl,She had suffered serious damage in the last battle when part of the acid manage to find its way past the plating and into the top of her Plug.
Kensuke had been even more worried about the girl than Shinji after seeing her leave her plug,Toji expected she would be spending a few more weeks in had left as soon as he heard she was stable,he'd merely told them it was important before rushing off.The hell's so important?!Ayanami nearly died and yer probably going off to see some cool warship passing by.Toji loved Kensuke like a brother but he admitted his friend's priorities where often odd to say the least and stupid to say the most.
"She's been cleared for visitation by family members and NERV High Ikari,your father cleared you for visitation as well." Shinji nooded as he got up before looking back towards Toji.
"You'll be alright in here for a while or need me to baby sit you?"Toji laughed,he knew his friend didn't mean to come of as aggressive or mean-spirited but he often did when under pressure and/or worry.
"Sure man,make sure to say high to your girlfriend for me."Shinji frowned and shaked his head as he walked into the room,Toji however did not miss the small smile on Shinji's lips after the comment.
…
Shinji wouldn't lie to himself in saying his friend's teasing hadn't helped him ease up a little he thought about thanking the boy later but soon came to the conclusion Toji didn't need Shinji to thank him,he simply knew it had helped because they were friends and more recently partners.
"Hello Ayanami,Do you mind if I call you Rei?" The girl shakes her head slightly as Shinji sits down next to her bed. "Then how are you Rei?"
"My injuries are minor however I will be unable to pilot for an extended period of time."Shinji sighed,he hadn't asked her how her injuries were,he had asked her how she was.
"You really don't change do you Rei?"She looks confused at his statement,he laughs and pats her in the head in much the same fashion as he had after the battle against Ramiel. "Don't worry about it."
...
And here it goes,the first fully original chapter that didn't follow one of the Anime's episodes.
At first I was not so sure if I wanted to bring my own angels into the mix but after this chapter's results I'm pretty happy with how things went,and for you Asuka fans,do not fear for I' shall introduce her in either the chapter after the next or the one after that.
Anyway if you could leave reviews it would be incredibly appreciated,even If you have something negative to say.